Tuck-marker.



" PATENTED SEPT. 11, 1906.

A. G. LAMB- TUCK MARKER.

APPLIOATION IILEI) JULY 3, 1905.

MOTOR. D. A:v

"UNITED sTATns AMHERST G. LAMB, OF TORRINGTON, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO EXCELSIOR NEEDLE COMPANY, OF TO RRINGTON, CON N E CTICUT,

A CORPORATION OF CONNECTICUT.

TUCK-MARKER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 11, 1906.

Application filed July 3, 1905. Serial No. 268,017.

To all 1077 0112 it may concern:

Be it known that I, AMHERST G. LAMB, a citizen of the United States, residing in Torrington, in'the county of Litchfield and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Tuck-Markers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to sewing-machine attachments, and has for an object to provide an improved tuck-marker adapted to be carried by the presser-foot bar and the creaser or marker controlled by an arm actuated in one direction by the needle-bar and returned by a spring.

One object of the present invention is to provide an attachment of this character wherein the gage for the width of tuck or the distance of its edge from the needle and the marker may be set independently one of the other, and yet wherein the graduations on the scale for the marker and for the gage will aline when they are both properly set. For ordinary tucks without space between them the 'marker will be set twice the distance from the needle that the gage is set from the needle, and according to my improvement the scale for the marker may be arranged to'read from left to right and the scalefor the gage to read from right to left, and when the corresponding points upon the two scales are in alinement with an index it may be known that the adjustment is accurate.

The present improvement also embodies fastening means for the gage and the marker, whereby although each is movable independently of the other and one is not in enga'ge ment with the other, yet'a single fastening device may be employed for fastening them in position one relatively to the other and both relatively to the framework member or that portion which is fastened to the sewingmachine, .in the present construction upon the presser-foot bar after the presser-foot has been removed. Such single fastening device for both members may be controlled by a cam and a rock arm or lever. Thelev'er is employed for controlling the fastening for the gage and the marker, since it is a well-known fact that persons whose hands are not strong or the skin toughened by hard use can put down a set-screw so tightly without hurting their hands that they will be unable to loosen the same without hurting them, if they can loosen it at all, but can readily operate a lever without experiencing any such difficulty.

In the drawings accompanying and forming a part of this specification, Fi ure'l is an end view of an embodiment of a form of my invention, showing the same applied to a sewing-machine presser-foot bar. Someof the surrounding parts of the sewing-machine are shown for purposes of illustration. Fig. 2 is a front view thereof. Fig. 3 is a cross-section taken in the line 3 3 of Fig. 2 looking from the right-hand end toward the left-hand end of such figure. The rock-arm 52, however, is shown in a different angular position. Fig. 4 is a plan view of the attachment. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the gage and its carrier-slide detached. Figs. 6 and 7 are perspective views of the creaser or marker head and the creaser or marker-blade, respectively, detached and enlarged. Fig. 8 is a perspec tive detail of a clamping member for the plate or carrier for the marking portion of the device. Fig. 9 is a perspective View of the plate for clamping the gage-carrier. Fig. 10 is a perspective view of a stud for passing through such plate and carrying the lever for clamping such clamping members upon the parts which they respectively control, and Fig. '11 is a detail in perspective of the gage and shows it and the stud of Fig. 10 and the plate tion to the frame portion of the attachment.

In practice the device may be secured to the sewing-machine in some convenient manner. In the present instance it may be carried by the presser-foot bar 11, the presserfoot being removed and the attachment carrying a presser-foot 12. The various parts may be mounted on and carried by a plate 13, rigid with such presser-foot attachment, which presser-foot may have some suitable opening, as '14, for the passage of the sewingmachine needle, designated in a general way by 15, such point being mentioned merely because it is the point from which the gage and the vmarkingdevice are measured in their settings and which is the zero-point for the scales for each of said parts.

By reference to Fig. 3 it will be seen that the Presser-foot and the portion 16 of the plate '18normally rest upon the cloth-plate 17 of Fig. 9 in their assembled positions in rela- Ice of the sewing-machine or they rest upon the cloth which may pass beneath the attachment in the sewing operation. Sometimes, however, the cloth will not pass under the portion 16, which will be the case when the tucking is not being sewed to a base, which will doubtless be the general condition prevailing in the use of the machine. From the portion 16 the plate is bent upwardly, as at 18, and then again into a horizontal plane at 19. From the portion 16 at the opposite side the plate is bent upwardly, forming a side plate or standard 20, and between the portions 18 and 20 a slideway is formed for the plate 21., which carries the marking portions of the device, the plate having an upturned end provided with a creasing device, in the present instance an obtuse knife-edge-22, which will cooperate with a'creasing-head 23, which in the-present instance (see Fig. 6) comprises a sheet-metal blank of spring material bent upon itself and forming an open box, as it were, having spring-fingers 24 dependent therefrom. Such spring-fingers are spaced apart and are bent toward and then away from each other, forming diverging ends, and the fingers back of such ends normally being in engagement, thus producing a groove 25 for pressing the cloth against the edge 22 and creasin the same. The fingers are yieldable and will thereby crease the cloth without injuring the same, yielding when necessary although strongly pressed toward the edge, and such yielding will also make a more pronounced crease in the cloth, which will facilitate the folding of the cloth upon the crease. The presserhead is carried by a bar 26, pivoted by means of a transversely-disposed portion 27 in an eye formed in the upright 28 of the plate 21. A tongue 29 may be riveted to the standard 28 and lproject over the plate 21 for holding the clot down on such late. This tongue may carry a suitable graduated scale to indicate the relative position to the needle 15 of the line of crease which will be made. 'The gage 30 for the cloth is shown as carried by a slide or plate 31 and in the present instance comprises a face 32 for engagin the creased edge of the cloth while the need e is sewing the same, and also embodies a plate or ledge 33 for preventing the cloth from slipping downwardly away from such face 32, the tongue or finger 29 preventing it from slip ing upwardly away from such face. This p late or carrier 31 is received in ways formed by the bottom face of the portions 18 and 19 of the plate 13 and between a spring-plate 34 (see Fig. 9) riveted to the framework portion 13 and lies in substantially the same plane as does the slide or plate 21. It will beseen that such plate 34 is cut away, as at 35. i This will act as a dirt-groove, from which the dirt and dust may be purged from the guideway by the relative movement of the parts, and by such cutting away the portions 36, which are left, will, if the plate is made of proper material, act as spring-arms for purposes which will be presently described. The plate also has an opening 37 through it and through which opening and through the opening 38 in the plate 31 a post 39 passes, (see Fig. 10,) which post is provided with a head portion 40 and a pivot-bearing 41.. When the parts are assembled, the drawing of the head 40 against the plate 34 will clamp the same tightly against the plate 31, binding the same between it and the face of the portion 19, thereby preventing movement of the gageplate 30. A lever 42 is shown mounted upon the pivot-bearing 41 and passing through an opening in the standard ortion20 of the plate 13. The lever is causec to bear upon the top of a member 45, (see Fig. 8,) which member has edges 46 bearing upon the plate 21 at each side of the tongue 29, which tongue may pass through the channel 47 in such member as the plate 21 is reciprocated in its ways. The mmeber 45 may be made from. a sheetmetal blank, it being bent in shape and provided with a ribbed portion 48, having an opening or recess 49 for embracing the sides of the lever 42, whereby it may be in this simple manner prevented from traveling with the plate 21 as it is shifted, the ridge 48 and the member 45 thus acting as a fulcrum for the lever, which will, upon its being pressed down upon the outer end, clamp both plates in their positions of adjustment, it being apparent that this one lever controls both parts, but that they are independently adjustable and are entirely out of contact one with-the other, so that movement of one will not be communicated to the other. After one of the parts has been adjusted the adjustment of the other part will not disturb such adjustment. The actuation of the lever will be by means of an eccentric cam 50, pivoted at 51 to the standard portion 20 and having a suitable rock-arm 52 for its actuation and a stop 53 to limit its unclamping movement. The portion 19 of the frame-plate may be beveled away, as at 54, to constitute an index-line for the scale or graduation upon the plate 31.. Since both the gage-plate and the marking device are adjustable from the same pointnamely, the opening 14-they may by the present improvement be both set in the line of the index 54. As is above stated, by the present reading the creasing will be twice the distance from the needle that the gage-plate is from such needle and one will read from right to left and. the other from left to right; but when it is desired to set the tucking-gage for any particular point-as, for instance, a No. 4 tuck on the device illustrated in Fig. 4 the figure 4 on the scale on plate 30 will be brought to the line of the index 54, and the scale on the tongue 29, carried by the plate 20, will also be brought to such line, when the parts maybe readily secured in their adjusted gage 30..

freeing the plate 34 from the plate 31, when positions by shifting the rocking lever 52. I Some styles of spacing will require other relal tive adjustment.

The creasing or marking head 23 will be actuated by means of a lever 56, pivoted to the framing membeiywhich lever lies over the bar 26, such bar being held in its normal position by means of a suitable spring 57, such spring in the present instance being fastened to the plate 19 by means of the rivets which fasten the plate 34 to the plate 19. The lever 56 will be engaged by some suitable part of the needle-bar mechanism, in-the present instance by means of the needle-nut 60. Upon each downstroke of the needlebar the bar 26 will be given a downstroke and any cloth passing between the presser-head and the blade 22 will be properly creased, the goods will be folded on such crease, and it will on the next sewing come against the When it is desired to change the width of tuck, this may be done without removing the attachment from the machine by merely shifting the eccentric cam to its unclamped position-as, for instance, swinging the arm 52 toward the left-hand side in Fig. 2, which will release both the plates 21 and 31 from the plate 13, the resiliency of the arms 36 such plates 21 and 31 may be shifted so that the gage-plate may be set by the help of its scale and the index-line for the size of tuck itis desired to make, whereupon the plate 21 may be shifted until the selected number appears in alinement with the number selected for the tuck, when the sewing may proceed. A change may be readily made for each tuck, so that if desired they may gradually vary in width or spacing within the range of the capabilities of the attachment.

The gageplate 30 may have a suitable handle 65, whereby it may be moved and may have an upturned end or abutment 66 to limit its movement aside from the limitation imposed by the member 39 in the slot 38. The handle portion of the gage-plate 30 not only serves as a means for shifting such gage, but also to prevent the spring finger or tongue 29 rising beyond a certain height and to positively limit the upward movement of such finger immediately adjacent to the gageplate 30, since the adjust ment of the parts one relatively to the other will move the finger back and forth relative to the gage, and the permanent connection (in the present illustration the rivet) between the finger and the plate 21 will not maintain constancy of position at this point. The finger 67 is for the purpose of steadying the gage-plate relative to the creasing portion of the device by such 'lingers engagement with the lower side of the plate 21.

A suitable back-stop embodying a pair of abutments 70 and 71 maybe carried by the arm 56 and the dependent portion of the presser-foot to which it is attached, so that the spring will be limited in the upward movement it imparts to the arm and the creaser-head. This will limit the movement, so that the arm 56 will not follow the needlebar to the completion of its upward stroke and will also maintain the creaser-head but a slight distance from the cloth, so that there will not be much movement of the cloth away from and toward the creasing edge. This will insure greater accuracy, since were the cloth permitted to move up a considerable distance from the creasing edge at each stroke inaccuracies would result in the pressing down of the cloth, which inaccuracies are prevented by limiting the space between the creasing-fingers and the creasing edge.

It will be seen that the plate 21 over which the cloth passes toward the creasing-blade 22 is substantially on the same plane as is the edge of such blade, the plate 21 having aproj'ection 73 running out toward and almost meeting such blade. This makes substantially an uninterrupted surface over which the cloth in the path of the contemplated crease will pass without any projections to impede its progress. This is useful, in that any impediment to the advance of the cloth will have a tendency to cause it to move in an irregular instead of in a straight course. In: the present instance the blade 22 is an upturned end of the plate 21, such plate being made of sheet metal having an opening 74 stamped therein to permit the bending at the point 75 and in forming such portion 7 3, above referred to, projecting toward the blade.

Having described my invention, I claim- 1. In a tuck-marking attachment for sewing-machines, having in combination a resser-foot and a base-plate carried thereby, said plate having a slideway in its upper face and a slideway in its lower face, said slide ways being parallel and upon substantially the same plane, a creasing device and a slide carrying the same and-mounted in the slideway in the upper face, a gage and a slide carrying the same and mounted in the slideway in the lower face, independent means for pressing each of said slides against said baseplate, and a lever in engagement with both of said means for actuating the same.

2.. In a tuck-marking attachment for sewingmachines, having in combination a presser-foot and a base-plate carried thereby, said plate having a slideway in its upper face and a slideway in its lower face, said slideways being parallel and in substantially the same plane, a creasing device and a slide carrying the same and mounted in the slideway in the upper face, a gage and slide carrying the same and mounted in the slideway in the lower face, means for pressing each of said slides against said base-plate, a lever in engagement with both of the same, 'a standard on said base-plate, and a cam mounted on said standard for actuating said lever.

3. In a tuck-marker attachment for sewing-machines, the combination with a baseplate having parallel slideways in its upper and lower faces, a slide in each of said slideways, one of said slides carrying a gage and the other a creasing device, a clamping device in engagement with the exposed face of each of said slides, a lever and means for actuating the same for engaging said clamping devices and pressing the slides against said plate.

4. In a tuck-marker attachment for sewing-machines, the combination with a baseplate having parallel slideways in its upper and lower faces, a slide in each of said slideways, one of said slides carrying a gage and the other a creasing device, a clamping device in engagement with the exposed face of each of said slides, a lever and a cam for actuating the same for engaging said clamping devices and clamping the slides against the base-plate.

5. In a tuck-marker attachment for sewing-m achines, the combination with a presserfoot, of a plate carried thereby, said plate having a slideway in its upper face and a slideway in its lower face parallel therewith but removed therefrom, a creasing device and a slide carrying the same, said slide being mounted in the upper slideway, a member having a ridge upon its upper face resting upon the'upper face of said slide, a gage and a slide carrying the same, said slide being mounted in the lower slideway, a springplate secured to said base-plate and holding the gage-slide in its slideway, a post secured to said spring-plate and passing through the gage-slide and base-plate, a lever connected to said post and resting upon said ridge and means for actuating said lever for pressin said slides against the base-plate.v

6. The combination with a creaser-head, of a slide over the face of which the cloth to be creased will pass, a blade carried by said slide and having its creasing edge in substantially the plane of the face overwhich the cloth is to pass and at a slight distance therefrom and a projection from such slide toward said blade for producing a substantially unbroken surface over which the cloth may travel.

7. In a device of the character specified, the combination with a presser-foot, of a pair of slides carried thereby, a gage and a creasing device carried respectively by said slides, an index-line carried in a fixed position relative to the presser-foot, graduated scales upon said slides and both of which are adapted to re 'ster with said index-line in their setting, said slides being movable independently one of the other, and a cam and lever mechanism .p

for securing said slides in their positions of adjustment.

8; In a tuck-marker, the combination with a base-plate, a creaser and a gage, of a pair of slides respectively carrying said creaser and gage and carried by the baseplate, one inl dependently of the other, and a lever and cam mechanism for locking both of said slides in their positions of adjustment.

9. Ina device of the character specified, the combination with a creaser and a gage, of a plate upon which the same are shiftable, but out of contact one with the other, and a lever and cam'mechanism for clamping said parts in their relative positions of adjustment.

10. In a tuck-marker attachment for sewing-machines the combination with a blade, of a creaser-head, a pair of spring-fingers carried by said head, and having divergent free ends, said fingers being bent toward each other back of said ends and again diverging from each other forming a space, the portions of the fingers between the divergent ends and the space being normally in engagement and being elastically yieldable for disengagement from said divergent ends to said space upon engagement with said blade, and means for pressing said fingers against said blade at the strokes of the needlebar.

11. In a tuck-marker attachment for sewing-machines, having in combination with a base-plate, a creaser and a gage, a pair of slides independently carried by said baseplateand respectively carrying the creaser and the gage, means for engaging each of said slides respectively for forcing it against the base-plate, and a member for actuating both of said engaging means for pressing them against said slides and the slides against the b ase-plate.

12. In a tuck-marker for sewing machines, the combination with a baselate, of a slide shiftable thereon, a spring-p ate fast to the base-plate and holding said slide in position, a post connected to such spring-plate, a lever pivoted to the post, a standard rising from the base-plate and having an opening through which said lever projects,f a creaser device, a slide carrying the same andfishiftablefiin a slideway upon said base-plate, saidfgbaseplate being provided with such slideway, a clamping member provided with a notched ridge resting upon said slide and the sides of the notch embracing the lever to hold the clamping member from longitudinal move ment with the slide, and a cam mounted upon said standard portion for actuating said lever.

13. In a tuck-marker for sewing-machines, the combination with a base-plate, of a slide shiftable thereon, a spring-plate fast to the base-plate and holding said slide in position, a post connected to such spring-plate, a lever ivoted to the post, a standard rising from the base-plate having an opening through i which said lever projects, a creaser device ITS and a slide carrying the same shiftable in a slideway upon said base-plate, said baseplate being provided with such slideway, a clamping member provided with a notched ridge resting upon said slide and the sides of the notch embracing the lever to hold the clamping member from longitudinal movement with the slide, and a cam mounted upon said standard portion for actuating said lever, said clamping member having a groove through it, and a finger mounted upon said creaser-slide and traversing said groove.

v 14. In a tuck-marker for sewing-machines, the combination with a base-plate, of a slide shiftable thereon, a sewing-gage carried by said slide, a spring-plate fast to the baseplate and for holding said slide in position when drawn against the same, a post connected to such spring-plate and passing through the slide and the base-plate, a lever pivoted to the post above the base-plate, a standard rising from the base-plate and having an opening through which said lever projects, a creaser device and slide carrying the same and shiftable in a slideway upon said base-plate, said base-plate being provided with such slideway, a clamping member provided with a notched ridge resting upon said slide and the sides of the notch engaging the sides of the lever to hold the clamping member from longitudinal movement with the slide, a cam mounted upon said standard portion for actuating said lever, said clamping member having a groove through it, and a finger mounted upon said creasing-slide and traversing said groove for resting on the cloth and holding the same in place, a handle fast with the gage-slide and in line with the gage and overlying the finger, scales on said slides and an index-line common to both scales.

Signed at Torrington, Litchfield county, Connecticut, this 26th day of June, 1905.

I AMHERST G. LAMB.

Witnesses:

C. E. MoREHoUsE, D. I-IILDRETI-I. 

